Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Daytona 500–Dale Earnhardt Jr.

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 17, 2019

DALE EARNHARDT JR. VISITED WITH MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA PRIOR TO THE DAYTONA 500 TO DISCUSS HIS DUTIES AS THE PACE CAR DRIVER OF THE NEW CHEVY SILVERADO PACE TRUCK. FULL TRANSCRIPT:

YOU ARE THE OFFICIAL PACE CAR DRIVER FOR TODAY’S RACE. HOW WILL THE CHEVROLET SILVERADO PERFORM? THIS IS THE FIRST TIME A TRUCK HAS EVER PACED THE DAYTONA 500

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: “I’m excited. This is pretty special. I’ve had a long relationship with Chevrolet for a long time; I can’t even count the years. I was in Texas when they unveiled the new Silverado at the race track. They flew it in on this helicopter and dropped it right there in front of all these Chevy enthusiasts, myself included. And as soon as I saw it, I thought I’m going to buy one of those trucks. I haven’t bought a pick-up truck from Chevy since 2004. So, I bought a new Silverado. I think it’s a great truck. I like what they’ve changed on the body of the truck and the style. I didn’t know that it’s the first truck to ever pace the field for the race, so that’s pretty unique and pretty special for me to be able to do it. And, I joked on the podcast this week that maybe next year we’ll wave the green flag and then we’ll try to find other odd jobs each year as we go forward (laughter). We’ll see if the folks on Twitter can get creative and come up with some other things we could do each season.

“But, I just like being here. It’s a great excuse to be here. I love this race. It’s a very proud time for our sport and this opportunity with Chevrolet brings me here and allows me here to experience it just like everybody else. And I’m so thankful for that.”

YOU COULD PAINT THE GRASS. THAT WOULD BE A JOB HERE. DID YOU GET THAT COOL CAMPING KIT LIKE THEY’VE GOT ON THE ONES OVER HERE AT THE EXPERIENCE CENTER?
“I watched the Xfinity race up in the suite yesterday and saw those tents in the back of those Silverados in the Chevy Experience and started trying to figure out who I could contact at Chevrolet to get the model numbers because I was going to buy me one. But, my brother in law, who was sitting with me, said I don’t have much of a chance to get Amy to sleep in it with me (laughter); so I might just be in there by myself. But, it’s pretty neat. And they’ve had a family here this week staying in those over at the Chevy Experience, which is a great story as well; and so that’s been a lot of fun to learn about. The new Silverado, I’m pretty happy to have one. I like owning it, you know? So, it’s my truck. I take care of it. I’ve had a lot of company cars over the years through my job as a driver. There’s a different experience for the vehicle when you own it yourself.”

HAS BEING OUT OF THE CAR BEEN AS DIFFICULT OR AS EASY OR IT’S BEEN A YEAR NOW. IS IT ANY DIFFERENT THAN IT WAS A YEAR AGO?
“It’s different, for sure, than I expected. I thought when I got out of the car I would miss it bad and that would like of wane off a little bit over time, but it’s actually the other way around. When I got out of the car I was like thank, God; we’re going to have some time off. It’s so much pressure. That’s what you’re happy to be relieved of. You never get tired of driving a race car, it’s not that. It’s just you’re so happy to be out from under that pressure. But as time goes on, you miss it more and more and more, which is unexpected. I didn’t think that would happen. Just out there today doing these laps in the Silverado taking some of the media around and so forth, you’re driving around the track and all these memories are popping up and you’re just thinking about all the fun the guys are going to have today. They’re going to have a great time out there in the race, driving the cars and working the draft and playing around out there and trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. And so, you start thinking about those things and you miss it more and more, I think, as time goes on. And, I’m okay with that. I think that will help me in my job as a broadcaster to have that passion for it and miss it. That will keep some of that energy and that spirit in my work going forward in the booth. So, I think if I didn’t miss it, I wouldn’t do as good a job in the booth, I think, if I didn’t miss it as much.”

ARE THERE GOOD MEMORIES AND BAD OVERALL?
“Yeah, I don’t even think about the bad ones. When you come to Daytona, you think about winning it. You think about 2014. You think about how those races played out that night after the race and getting up the next morning all hung-over and going over there to that breakfast and putting that car in Daytona USA and feeling terrible. Nobody had any sleep. You think about the media tour afterwards. I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy the media tour but it’s so fun. You’re just celebrating that win. It’s like Victory Lane lasts a week. You’re going everywhere telling your story about how that happened and what you did and what you experienced; and that ended up being really a lot of fun. A lot of great memories.”

GOING INTO THE NEW SEASON, WHAT MAKES NASCAR RELEVANT TO THE FANS THIS YEAR? IS THE GREAT AMERICAN RACE INDEED STILL THE GREAT AMERICAN RACE?
“I look at the sport from start to present day. I wasn’t around in the ‘50’s or 40’s, but I’ve done my homework and try to be as aware of where we were and where we’ve come from. I love stock car racing and NASCAR. I kind of take offense to anybody who has any cross words about it. It’s kind of like your brother. You can talk all the crap you want to him, but you won’t let anyone else do it. And, we can’t ride at the top of the mountain forever. There will be ups and downs and good days and bad days. You weather the storm, you know? If you love it and you believe in it, you stick in there and you gut it out because you believe that it will cycle back to the good. So, you work through the bad days knowing there will be good days ahead. I think that’s what a lot of us are doing. This race is everything to me. It’s all I grew up around. I lived the sport. I love the sport. I’m probably the worst person to ask that question to because I’m going to tell you every day of the year that it’s the biggest race that I ever wanted to win and did win. I think that there’s a lot of great conversation going on. I’m getting in the weeds a little bit. But, there’s a lot of great change happening. There’s some really, really good people that have got the steering wheel right now. And, there’s some great conversation and great things being said. And the media has done a great job of sharing that with all of us and helping us understand where the industry is headed. So, I’m excited about the next five to 10 years. It’s going to be a really interesting transition. I think it’s going to be good.”

IF THE LEADER IS NOT SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH SOMEONE, LIKE EITHER THEY’RE DEFENDING TWO LINES OR IN SINGLE FILE OR WHATEVER GOING INTO THE LAST LAP, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE PERCENT CHANCES ARE THAT THEY WILL WIN THE RACE TODAY?
“Over the past several years leading the race, being the control car at the last caution, or leading the race with 20 to go……whatever that is, as soon as you get that fuel mileage to where you know you’re going to be able to go to the end, you want to be the control car. You want to be the guy leading the race. When I won the race in 2015 in Talladega, we ran around the top and led every lap since the last restart. There was a Speedweeks down here, I can’t even remember the year, maybe 2013, ’15, or ’16; but every car that controlled the restart on the last restart of every single race, the Clash, the Qualifying races, the Xfinity race, won the race. So, I definitely want to be leading and in control of my own destiny that way. I think that these guys are really smart and they know how these cars work and they know how to defend that position so well; regardless of whether they’ve got to defend the guy that’s running at the top of the track or at the bottom if they’re running side by side behind him. So, I definitely feel like if you’re leading this race or you’re controlling the last restart, you’re in great position.”

HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU SAW JEFFERY EARNHARDT OUT FRONT AT DAYTONA YESTERDAY WHEN HE WON ALL THOSE LAPS?
“I was really happy for Jeffrey. He has worked really hard to put himself in this position. He’s sort of reinvented himself. We talked about this yesterday, but I’ll say it again. He had a great opportunity working with DEI in the K&N Series years and years ago. And I don’t think that he realized what kind of opportunity he had. Maybe he didn’t take full advantage of it and apply himself. But, that was another lifetime ago. And, he certainly became a hard worker; dedicated in the car and out of the car. He’s got a great group of people around him that are also helping sort of market him and grow his brand and make him and appealing personality to sponsors and so forth. He’s done a great job. The people he’s working with, I don’t really know who they are, but I would say they’ve don’t an amazing job to sort of help him understand what he needs to be doing. And, he seems to be willing to do the work, inside and outside of the car. And it’s created this opportunity and partnership that he has today to give him this opportunity to get in a great race car with a great race team. I was thrilled for him yesterday. I know he probably had a lot of fun. He’s probably extremely disappointed with his result; and he’s probably chomping at the bit to get back behind the wheel of that car again and continue to try to prove to everybody he belongs in it.”